Naples Update

Hey Everybody!!!

Ok, we haven’t updated in 3 months…..I know, I know….but I told you life in Naples, FL moves a bit slower. Quick update before I backtrack 13 weeks of Southwest Florida life in the winter. Today is April 30, 2009, and we are in Kankakee, IL at Amy’s friend, Jen’s parent’s house. We are currently looking at places to live in downtown, Chicago and hopefully will be able to move in tomorrow, and start work on Monday! Anyway, more details will follow, I just want this blog to be somewhat chronological.

We are going do this month by month, and Amy is going to help me out with writing some of these, because, it’s a lot to recap. Anyway, we arrived in Naples, in late January and we both started working. Even though we have returned to Naples the last 3 and 5 years respectively, I still enjoy it. We have good friends that live there, and it is just a gorgeous place to go in the winter. My first day of work, I drove, windows down, 70 degrees, across the bridge that connects Naples and Marco Island, FL and watched the sunrise over the island, with the beautiful palm trees swaying in the breeze. It truly is a tropical paradise, and it is a lot easier to see that in retrospect, rather than taking it for granted on a daily basis. Anyway, nostalgia aside, we started taking advantage of the local festivities and fairs that go on during “season” time in southwest Florida. On Saturday, we decided to do some much anticipated Kayaking. Amy, had found a place to rent Kayaks at Naples Conservancy, so we went there for some possible hiking and kayaking. We got there, and were surprised that it was more of a zoo than a park. We walked around the small trails, saw some animals that they were nursing back to health, and then rented a kayak for the day. We took a divorce boat (tandem Kayak) out into the mangroves. We paddled through the back water trails, seeing a lot of different wildlife. Turtles, fish, and birds of all different species were scattered throughout the backwater. Amy was afraid of Alligators, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. We paddled for a couple hours, embracing the quiet, with only the sound of our paddles hitting the water breaking the silence. It was a nice paddle, but it was a bit restricted, meaning we couldn’t go far, and the area was very confined. Nevertheless, it was good to get back onto the water again. Eventually, I would love to buy a few kayaks. The next day, we went to attend the Seafood Fest in Everglades City. Everglades City is about 45 miles east of naples, basically placing you between the coast and the everglade swamps. We drove out there early Sunday morning, trying to avoid the massive crowds that attend this festival that travel on a small 2 lane highway to and from Everglades City. We got there, found a suitable parking spot, and walked into acres of carnival rides, booths, and tons of Seafood!! We tried on some cowboy hats, waved some confederate flags, and frequented the craft booths that lined the perimeter of the fest. It was a beautiful day, and at first, the crowds were tolerable. After a short while, the crowds were huge!! People drove in rather consistently for 6-8 hours to come to the seafoodfest. We did laps around the booths and finally followed a heavenly aroma to the actual purpose of the fest….SEAFOOD!! We walked past a numerous amount of booths, where in front, lay enormous piles of Shrimp, stone crab, snapper, redfish….etc. Virtual mounds of Paella, and heaping portions of steaming seafood. The prices were Outlandish!! I figured being this far out in the middle of nowhere, the prices would be far from the exorbitant Naples, FL prices, but I was wrong. The fest was a success though, and beer flowed while the smell of shrimp and old bay seasoning filled the air under a cloudless 75 degree Florida winter day. We shared a plate of stone crab claws that were delicious!! We walked around and visited the rest of the booths, and after a few hours, we decided to head back. Everglades City is a cool little town, more known for airboat rides and fishing charters, but a very authentic taste of old Florida.

The next weekend we wanted to visit my parents on the east coast of Florida. My Mom’s birthday was coming up, and we couldn’t make it across the state for her birthday, so we decided to come up and celebrate it a week early. We drove across the state on Friday night, and made it there late. The next AM we hung out with the family. My sister was in town from Boston, but she was doing her own thing with her friends, so we hung out with Mom and Greg. My mom is not a big fan of going out to eat, so we decided to cook in. Amy and I went out, and bought oysters, lobster tail, and some steaks for the grill for a nice surf and turf dinner at home. Greg brought over my two stepbrothers Nate and Kevin, and we shucked oysters and got dinner ready. The dinner turned out awesome and everyone was there: Amy and I, Mom, Grandma(por por in Chinese), Greg, Nate, Kevin, and Vanessa. The next day we prepared for our drive back to Naples, but heard that they had a garlic fest going on in Delray Beach. It was on our way, so we left around noon, and drove to Delray. We found parking, and walked the beautiful streets of downtown Delray. We entered the grounds of “Garlic Fest” and you could smell it right away. Garlic Fest was started to promote all things garlic, food, utensils, oil, art….if you can fuse it with garlic, it was there. We walked around all the booths, seeing all the innovative things that can be done with garlic, and all the innovative tools that have been invented to prepare garlic. We met Mr. Garlic, a man dressed up as a lifesize bulb of garlic, and his son, baby garlic, who was an exploited 12 year old dressed up as a bulb of garlic. We walked by “Garlic Row” which featured stands of garlic pizza, garlic chicken, garlic sandwiches, garlic salsa and chips!!! You could smell this fest from a mile away!! We said goodbye to garlic fest and continued our trip back to Naples, to begin another work week.

The next weekend we are unsure of what we did on Saturday. We probably caught up on a million things that needed to be done. Friday, we went out to happy hour with our friends Sarah, Tricia, and Janet. On Sunday, we decided to do some more kayaking. We went out on Goodland, which is a small fishing village off Marco Island. We passed the infamous “Stan’s” on Goodland, and found the kayak rental place behind a great little restaurant called the Little Bar. We got into another divorce boat (tandem kayak) and paddled out towards Coon Key. We talked to the guy, and he said it was a pretty easy paddle that we could do in a couple hours. We were prepared with water and some snacks/towels, and off we went. We avoided boat traffic as much as we could, stayed close to the mangrove tree islands, and desperately tried to follow the map that was provided to us. The only problem is, all the islands look the same!! Mangrove island 1, looks like Mangrove island 3,4,5, and 6, especially from the perspective of a kayak. After a few wrong turns, we made it into the open water towards the Gulf of Mexico. We spotted tons of wildlife! Fish jumping, birds all around, and in the distance a dolphin swimming towards us. We followed the dolphin for a while, trying in vain to get a good picture, but he swims a lot faster than I can paddle. We paddled out to a very small key called Coon Key. This 50 yard stretch of island/beach lies right in the middle of the channel that goes into the Gulf, so it was a great place to stretch out and relax a bit. We had a snack, enjoyed the beach for a bit, and took some great pictures of the surrounding islands. The water was a bit cold (75 degrees) so I stayed on the beach the majority of the time. The cool water was definitely a great contrast to the sunny 80 degree weather we were having though. After a little rest, we got back into the kayak and paddled our way back home. We did not take into account, however, the tide. The tide was going out on our way in……making paddling pretty difficult. We muscled our way back in 2+ hours, leaving us pretty tired. On our drive back home, we hit a little farmers market/flea market, picked up some fresh vegetables, and headed back home…..another beautiful weekend in Naples…..

The next weekend was exciting!!! It marked the beginning of……….Drum roll please…….RED SOX BASEBALL!!! Yes, folks, spring training was upon us once again, and another perk of avoiding the snowy north in the winter, is to not only enjoy 75 degree sunny weather, but to enjoy said weather sitting, drinking, and watching Red Sox Baseball at a quarter of the price you would pay normally. Every year Northeastern University, my beloved alma mater, plays the Red Sox in scrimmage before spring training starts, albeit they get slaughtered every year, its great to see our boys out there playing. The alumni association have a nice cookout before the game where you can meet old alumni, the president of the school, Wally the Green Monster, and other Red Sox big wigs. We met up with 2 friends from Naples, Katie and Paul, who also are NU PT alumni, and had a great lunch. We walked to our seats at the stadium, and they were all the way up in the stands, so I schmoozed with one of the ushers and he let us slip in and sit behind the dugout…..in the second row. We watched another NU massacre….14-0, but had a great time. We had tickets for that night as well!! (DOUBLE HEADER!!) So we walked around the area, found a red sox bar in downtown Ft. Myers called the Hideaway, and drank beer, and made new friends. Game time came so we walked down to the stadium and found our seats. They were playing the Cincinnati Reds, and we had Awesome seats!! We sat behind home plate, 2^nd row, right behind Dusty Baker, the manager of the Reds. We got him to sign a ball, and he turned out to be a really nice guy. We met the people next to us, who were also from Boston and we got to witness another Red Sox victory. Afterwards, I drove home a very happy man…..A red sox double header ending in 2 victories…..baseball season was finally here!! The next day, we had a tee time scheduled, so we brushed off our golf clubs and played a round of golf with some friends. I played decently, and overall it was a great day to be outside to play golf. Golf is a sport I’ve never really gotten into, but I’m starting to get into it now. One of my good friend's boyfriend is a scratch golfer, so he’s giving me some pointers here and there, and I’m really starting to appreciate the game. Plus, the beauty of having a free driving range as an amenity is always nice J

Red Sox vs. Yankees!! We also got tickets from our friend Bender, to go to the Yankees and Red Sox game!! It is still spring training, but overall, when the Yankees play the Red Sox its always exciting. I drove up with Bender, Murph, and Bobby (Tricia's new Fiancee' who is also a Yankees fan) and met Amy at the ballpark. The Red Sox won again!! Always a sweet victory against our arch nemesis, plus I wasn't too hard on Bob, on the car ride home.

The next weekend Mr. and Mrs. Ward came down to visit. They flew in on Thursday afternoon and I met them and Amy at the Snook Inn for some dinner and drinks after work. We then drove down to the Esplanade to catch the sunset, but couldn’t find parking, so we drove further to the south beach to find hordes of people walking away from the beach. We had just missed sunset, but caught “dusk”. The next day I went to work and the Wards entertained themselves. We all met up for wine tasting at ABC Wine and Spirits where we got to taste wines from Spain and France and meet the wine makers. We all walked away with a few autographed bottles. We stopped at one of Amy's favorites for downhome southern cooking, Cracklin' Jacks for dinner. They serve their sides family style and call them vittles. Bowls of mashed potatoes, greens, beans, onion casserole and gravies (yes, two gravies - brown and white) complimented our ribs, fried chicken and jambalaya. Full and satisfied we went home to prepare for the a fishing trip the next day. Saturday morning I had booked a fishing charter for backwater and offshore fishing. Our friend Tricia, joined us, and we took off on the boat on a beautiful, sunny day. I don’t have a great track record when it comes to successful fish catching, but the company stated that if we didn’t catch a fish, we wouldn’t have to pay. Overall, we caught a ton of little fish, mangrove snapper, small ladyfish (nicknamed crappers because if you hold them, they…..you know) and Mr. Ward caught a puffer fish. The water was cold, and the captain said the fish were lethargic and not biting as much as the normally do, but I think we all had a pretty good time. Amy caught a 3-4 pound sheepshead, the only keeper of the day. It was a gorgeous day and we saw a Manatee, some dolphins, and some beautiful homes off of tigertail beach. Overall, it was a great trip and I hope all had a good time. Afterwards, we went home to rest for a bit as we had plans to attend a work party and then dinner reservations at one of our favorite Naples restaurants USS Nemo. The party was attended by almost the whole staff of my work and was thrown by Blaire, a volunteer at the clinic and one of the nicest women I have ever worked with. We all had a few drinks, shared a few laughs, and hated to leave, but had to make it to our reservations. We made it to USS Nemo, and after a short wait, had a wonderful dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed their “special” of a miso broiled seabass on jasmine rice. The next day, we took it easy. Mr. Ward and I went out to the driving range which was full, so we chipped and putted on the range. We had breakfast at the house and relaxed on the lanai for a bit, before heading to Ft. Myers to another Red Sox baseball game. We watched the Twins and Red Sox play in another beautiful day. The Red Sox were victorious once again!! That evening we relaxed at home, and had a nice dinner, and Mr. and Mrs. Ward left the next day.

The next week, St. Patty’s day preparations were upon us. Usually, that wouldn’t mean too much besides enjoying healthy amounts of green beer and Irish food, but when we are in Naples, we get to see our friend Gerry Forde perform. Gerry is a great musician and through the week, we were able to attend a number of his performances around Naples.

Life Back in Naples

Well, life in Naples, Florida moves a little bit slower, and therefore, our blog may slow down as well. This will be Amy's 5th year, and my 3rd year in Naples. It's fantastic to be back to a place where we can almost call our second home, a place where we have friends and my family close by. Activities and exploring, definitely take a back seat here. We've pretty much done most events and exploring around Naples, but i'm sure we'll find other things to do. In the meantime, we are enjoying this awesome weather!! We both have started work and moved into a gated community. It's a quaint little furnished 2 bed 2 bath condo on the 5th tee of an Arnold Palmer Golf Course. I have started work in Marco Island, and it has been Crazy!! I've almost got a full case load after doing over 20 evals in a week!! We have a handful of people slated to come down as well as

some events here and there, so we are enjoying being back so far. Our first weekend here we

surprised our friend Amanda and new born son Ian with a visit. He's the cutest baby, and we thoroughly enjoyed finally seeing him in person. That weekend we also attended the Naples Swamp Buggy Races with Jim, Amanda, Joanna, and Ian. We drove back into the woods via dirt road to a huge racing "track". The track was a trench dug in a figure 8 shape, filled with thick brown mud. In the distance you could see the owners of the swamp buggies, proudly displaying their confederate flags, mullets and remaining teeth, camping in tents, and cooking outdoors. Soon, the wondrous roar of twin V8 engines came about and the swamp buggy time trials took place. As they came off of the starting line, we soon realized that this race track had varying depths, because as the buggies drove in front of us, they began to sink to the depth of the drivers neck!! After all the time trials, several of the buggies had to be towed out by big Caterpillar Tractors. Per Amy's recommendation, a few of had to try "the big one" sandwich which is a heart clogging conglomeration of sliced beef, liquid cheese, french fries, and coleslaw, all piled atop a

bun. The sandwich was pretty good, not an amazing sandwich, but good. I think we all had a really good time, both people watching and watching the time trials. The next week we just worked, but looked forward to wine tasting at ABC Liquors with our old friend Sarah. Now, we've been wine tasting throughout the US, but wine tasting at ABC liquors in Florida is always an experience. We go to every wine tasting they have available, so we know most of the staff by name (and they know us too). Basically you take a huge store, put 15-20 tables and load them with 4-7 wines at each table(along with food from local vendors/restaurants and some liquor vendors too!) and you go to town. We got there, met Sarah, Mark, and Mark's dad Tony, and frequented most of the tables. We must have sampled over 40-50 wines!! It's a great happy hour after a long week. Afterwards, we went to the Ale house to finish off some pitchers of beer and to share an order of chicken nachos. Amy then had a "girl's night in" on friday with some friends, and on Saturday we went to Naples Farmer's market and ran some errands. Sunday Morning we went to Ian's baptism. He's only a month old, but he

doesn't cry much, and is a really great kid. He was very good throughout the whole ceremony, and was not finicky at all with the tons of people that insisted on holding him. We went to the BBQ hosted by the Flemings after the ceremony and went home to watch the Superbowl and get ready for the next week of work. Man!! I miss those 3 day weekends!!! Next weekend, we hope to do a bit of hiking in the Everglades, and go to SeafoodFest located in Everglades City. The superbowl also signifies the starting of Baseball Season!! I can't wait for Red Sox Spring Training!!! So, all we are enjoying our time here, and would love to entertain some northerners stuck in the snow, so let us know if you would like to pop in for a visit. Thanks for reading and until next time...

The last picture is of the Swamp Buggy Queen. She's happy at the time trials, but after the races the next day she gets thrown in the muck as per tradition. I hear mud is good for the complexion though so I guess she'll have the advantage over next year's pagent competition.

California to Texas to New Orleans to Naples?!

After a few days hanging out at our beautiful hotel, sitting by the pool and hot tub, enjoying an awesome brunch at Kono's on Mission Beach (the big breakfast #2), walking steps from the hotel down to the endless sands of San Diego while witnessing the perfect lines of waves being enjoyed by surfers....Man, this is the life. Although I worry about being jobless and homeless, this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy this country. If there is one thing I have learned over this road trip, it is that we have a absolutely beautiful country. Every state and region has distinctive cultural, environmental, and historical differences. It's amazing how a 6 hour drive can bring you to another part of the country that is so different, so interesting, and so amazing. Anyway, there will be more of this reflection once I wrap up this road trip blog. From San Diego, we reluctantly left our beautiful hotel and drove eastward. We officially gave up on Arizona, finding only 1 position here and there, but never finding 2 positions. Hopefully, we will make it back before our adventures in traveling PT come to a halt. So, on we went, with no job towards San Antonio to visit the Darter household. On the way, we stopped at the official center of the world in Felicity, CA. Now, the controversy here is that it was made official by some person in France. Its basically a tourist trap, and a horrible one at that. But, we stopped at the Corn Palace, so I figured why not the official center of the world. We got gas down the street, drove back over I-10 to a small conglomeration of a few buildings, weird sculptures, marble barriers, and a small pyramid. We parked the car, hoping to just walk around quickly and leave, but a lady came out of the "restaurant" and said that they prefer if we took the tour. We walked into the "gift shop" paid our 2 dollar tour fee, and was whisked outside into the bright sun where weird "art" out of a Salvador Dali gallery stood before us. We first saw the town's "sun dial" which was a sculpture of a human arm jettisoning from a rock pointing north. Already a bit freaked out (Religious people in the middle of the desert are scary), our guide (a teenage girl who didn't even want to be there) continued to tell us a little bit about the town, how the mayor made a decree that no building in town be higher than the church, how it came to be founded (an ex-marine bought some land and had it turned into a town in 1982). I then asked her a few questions, like why he decided to build a town in the middle of the desert (he wanted to) and what was the population of the town (6), and was she part of the population of 6 (no). We watched an amateur film about the "history" of this town (Brian, maybe you can help them out in this department), and then were taken inside the pyramid. Adjacent to the restaurant and gift shop lies the pyramid. No more than 30 feet high, we were let in, told to stand in the center of the pyramid (marking the official center of the world), instructed to make a wish (if my wish comes true, i'm donating to this town), and given an official certificate saying the time that we stood on the official center of the world. The certificate should have said...."sucker". We were then free to walk around the grounds. I felt really creeped out by this town, but Amy wanted to explore, so we continued. We walked through these marble barriers, each one engraved with weird and random things. Usually, these etchings in marble would signify something significant, but not in Felicity, CA. From sketchings on evolution to alumni of SUNY Stoneybrook, the randomness made absolutely no sense. I told Amy that I would absolutely not ascend the hill to see the church, so we skipped that. Oddly enough, they also have on display a small section of spiral staircase, which was an official section of the Eiffel Tower in France. I'm sure the French are happy that a piece of one of their great architectural accomplishments is now sitting in a sketchy part of the southwest desert in a town whose population is 6. Anyway, on we went, on the road again. We passed the sand dunes that were used in the filming of Star Wars as the planet of Tatooine, and we drove through the mountains resisting strong wind gusts. We drove straight through AZ, through New Mexico(where they have many signs saying caution because dust storms can make visibility Zero), and into El Paso Texas. We stopped for a quick bite of dinner at Smoky's BBQ, which was recommended by our friend Amanda who was born and raised in El Paso, and then stopped off at La Quinta Inn for the night. We woke up, had a quick complimentary breakfast of cereal, and were on the road to San Antonio. The drive through west Texas is probably...no, it is the worst drive ever. The speed limit is 80 however, but don't go faster, I was pulled over and issued a warning for going a couple mph over. It is just miles and miles and miles of nothing. I ended up counting roadkill to pass the time. I actually counted 30 deer, 5 racoons, and 4 unidentifiable. We arrived in Universal City, a town outside San Antonio that evening at Ben and Chrissie's house(college friends of Amy's) where we were treated to a nice home cooked meal with Abby (the most adorable 3 year old) and Chrissie's mom also present. We slept well, and the next AM, we went out to San Antonio to explore, as everyone was at work or day care. We arrived, parked, and walked around the city. We visited the riverwalk where tons of restaurants line a little river, el Mercado which is spanish for "the Mercado" where you could get any tex/mex trinket that you can imagine, la villeta where artisan galleries are plentiful, and the Alamo! We saw a little History channel video on the Alamo, and walked around the grounds. We saw the church, viewed the barracks, and saw a number of alamo artifacts including a locket with Davey Crockets hair. It's a very cool little spot to visit. Afterwards, we had lunch on the riverwalk (not good) and drove to Ben's work where he does research for the government on amputees and(from my understanding) gait analysis with prosthesis. It was an amazing place, especially as a PT, seeing the high tech equipment, robotics, cameras, and technology. It made every PT gym I had ever seen look like a shanty working out of a third world country. Afterwards, we drove back to the house, gathered up the family and went out for a good mexican dinner to make up for the bad one we had on the riverwalk. I had a great Chile Relleno that was delicious! We drove back to the house, and we all played MarioKart and Wii Fit on the Wii. We awoke the next AM, said our goodbye's to the Darter family, and continued on. I had heard of this great BBQ place, rated one of the best in Texas, right off of I-10 in Luling, Tx, so we headed there for lunch. It was called City Marketplace, and we walked in to find this little smokehouse restaurant where you have to walk to the back to a separate room to order your BBQ by the pound from a group of men in hard hats. We walked away with some brisket and BBQ ribs, and they were the best!! It was probably the best BBQ that both of us had ever had! We walked away with a quart of BBQ sauce as a souvenir (which we never got to try b/c I ended up dropping the bottle on the floor), and then headed to our next destination, Lafayette, Louisiana where Amy has more friends to visit. I wish my friends would move out of the Northeast so we could visit some of them!!! We arrived that evening to the beautiful house of Rene, Jane, and baby Aaron. We were treated to a great meal of authentic Louisiana jumbalaya, gumbo, and chicken/corn bisque. It was great!! After some catching up, we went to sleep, letting the parents of a newborn get as much rest as possible. We awoke the next AM for a quick drive to New Orleans for a night. We arrived in New Orleans soon enough, and checked into our hotel. We stayed and walked around the beautiful French Quarter, around the many shops, down Bourbon Street (hedonism central) and towards the famous Acme Oyster House. Now, we have always had oysters from cold climates. We've had oysters from the waters off Japan to Prince Edward Island, but never southern Oysters, so we were a little hesitant. We ordered a dozen on the half shell and when they arrived, they were Huge!! The oysters were absolutely delicious!! They were probably the best I ever had! We also tried a oyster/shrimp Po' boy, and a "ten napkin" roast beef sandwich debris style. Both, incredible. We went back to the hotel to field some calls about jobs. It all worked out and we soon realized that we were going to return to Naples, FL for yet another season!! We quickly planned out our route for the next day. For dinner that night, we walked down to Mr. B's Bistro, and had some great gumbo and Pecan Pie. We then walked down to the famous Pat O'Briens for a Hurricane drink. We spent the next few hours walking in and out of bars on Bourbon Street listening to live music. The next AM we grabbed a Cafe au lait and a few beignets from the famous Cafe Du Monde, took some pictures, and headed back to the hotel to check out and begin our long trek towards Naples, FL. We drove, and drove and drove. We drove the 12+ hours and finally arrived in familiar territory, somewhere where we could call home for a bit. We stayed at our friend Tricia's house for a couple nights until I found a few housing options to choose from. So, we are back in Naples in a beautiful 2 bed/ 2 bath condo (Come visit all you northerners stuck in the snow). Amy starts work tomorrow, and I will start either later this week or beginning of next week! It's SOOO nice to finally have someplace to call home....if just for a little while.

Even sitting here now, and reflecting on our amazing journey across country, we have seen such beautiful sights, and shared such wonderful experiences. From the Space needle and Puget Sound in Washington, to Haystack rocks, whale watching and Seal Caves of the Oregon Coast, to the Northern California Redwoods and rolling hills of grapevines, to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful SF bay, to the dazzle of Hollywood, the beach and the Pandas at the San Diego Zoo, across the red rocks and desert of Arizona, to the BBQ and Alamo in TX, to the music, swamps, oysters, and debauchery of New Orleans, the last 2 weeks will remain in my memory for a lifetime. I urge any who have the chance to take road trips, to see this wonderful country. You truly can appreciate the saying that the US is a melting pot of cultures, when you drive and visit the different locations and experience these cultures. I can honestly say, you can't beat Texas BBQ, Gumbo in New Orleans is worldly, Mexican food in southern California/Texas is authentically delicious, and fresh salmon and dungeness crab from the Pacific northwest is indescribable. We've experienced so much in just 3 weeks and we both feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have such great friends, and to have the chance to explore and to live. It has been a wonderful trip, and although words fail me to accurately describe the emotion, wonder, and awe of some of the sights that we have seen, I hope that you may have a chance to use our travels as a guidebook to your own road trip. Words fail to describe seeing the sunset on the SF bay, or on the san diego beach. They cannot accurately articulate Mt. Rainier's enormous presence, or whale watching in the San Juan Islands. They cannot provide you the memories of seeing a full moon rising over the red rocks in Arizona or feeling the history of the Alamo. You just have to experience these things on your own. Thanks for coming along with us on this blog trip. We've had a wonderful time, and hope you enjoyed reading.